Amazon challenges Perplexity for letting its AI browser make purchases on behalf of users
A new dispute has emerged in the ecommerce and AI space as Amazon has raised concerns over Perplexity’s AI powered shopping feature. The company says it has “repeatedly requested” that Perplexity stop allowing its Comet AI browser to buy products for customers. Perplexity has responded by accusing Amazon of “bullying.”
Comet, Perplexity’s AI browser, includes a tool that can search for items and complete purchases across multiple retail websites, including Amazon. Perplexity says it has now received what it calls an “aggressive legal threat” demanding that it stop enabling AI driven purchases from Amazon’s platform. According to Perplexity, the request contradicts Amazon’s stated interest in working with external AI agents.
Perplexity criticised Amazon’s position, writing that “Amazon should love this. Easier shopping means more transactions and happier customers.” It added that Amazon is more focused on showing ads, pushing sponsored results and shaping customer decisions with upsells.
Perplexity also referred to a recent comment from Amazon’s CEO, who said during an earnings call that the company expects to “partner with third party agents” in the future.
A spokesperson for Perplexity compared Amazon’s stance to a store that forces shoppers to rely only on store employed assistants. “This is like if you went to a store and the store only allowed you to hire a personal shopper who worked for the store,” the spokesperson said. “That’s not a personal shopper — that’s a sales associate.”
Amazon, however, argues that third party tools making purchases on behalf of customers must respect whether a service provider wants to participate. It also said that Comet’s approach leads to a “significantly degraded shopping and customer service experience.”
The disagreement highlights growing tension between major ecommerce platforms and independent AI companies as automated shopping tools become more common.
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